Chainsaw Earle

May 13, 2011

Recorded by: Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers
Written by: Kevin Blackmore & Wayne Chaulk

Lyrics

He was skinny as a rake like two by four
Ugly as sin born premature
Mother had trouble trying to take
To a kid that looked like a garden rake
Our sons are sons and Dad wasn’t proud
Didn’t make him feel like one of the crowd
Wood cuttin boys from up in the sticks
Laughed at the sight of Earle

(SPOKEN)
“Wimp!”

He was treated like scum and he felt like dirt
Couldn’t lift the chainsaw
Make it work
Father often said that he didn’t have a clue
Mother didn’t feed him and he hardly grew

(SPOKEN)
“I’m hungry! I’m hungry!”

So Earle disappeared for fifteen years
Father didn’t miss him and his mother didn’t care
After awhile they forgot about Earle
And his girlfriend said, “Who cares?”

His cutter bar was ten foot two
Turn the air all purple and blue
Tasmania devil in twenty minutes flat
Made the landscape look just like Iraq

With the trees all limbed and the fire break made
The town folks saved from a charcoal grave
People gathered
Shouted and cheered,
“Hurray for this force disposal unit.”

Lightin’ up a smoke he laid the chainsaw down
Said, “I’m the guy who saved your town.”
Then Earle knocked over a drum of gas
Just as he threw away his match.
All the gas exploded and the town burned flat
And Earle ran off just like a scalded cat
“It’s been fifteen years”, his father said.
“And he’s still as stunned as me arse!”